Db Mixolydian
The Db Mixolydian mode (also written C#) — Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb Cb — shown across the guitar neck.
Also written C# Mixolydian. C# and Db are the same pitch — Db is the spelling in common use.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
Db Mixolydian is the major scale with one note changed — the b7, Cb. That single note is what gives the mode its sound: lean on it and the colour is obvious. Leave it out and the melody alone could pass for plain major — then it is the chords underneath that keep the mode.
What is Db Mixolydian?
Db Mixolydian is the seven notes Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb Cb — the notes of F# major started from its 5th degree, Db. Same seven notes as the parent, but with Db as home, so the intervals and the sound are different.
Db Mixolydian vs Db major
6 of the seven notes are the same. The difference is one note, and that is the whole character of the mode:
- b7 is Cb in Mixolydian, where Db major has 7, C.
Play Db major and Db Mixolydian back to back over a Db chord and listen for Cb — that is the note to lean on.
Chords in Db Mixolydian
Stack the mode in thirds and each degree becomes a chord. The home chord is Db; the rest are the chords of F# major, since the notes are the same — what changes is which one the music rests on. Vamp between Db and Cb and the mode is unmistakable.
Db Mixolydian on the guitar neck
Because Db Mixolydian is F# major from its 5th note, its natural fingering is position 5 of the seven three-notes-per-string shapes of F# major — the shape whose lowest note is Db. Learn that shape with Db as home — start and end on it, over a drone on Db or the vamp above — and you have the mode under your fingers. Play the same shape with F# as home and you hear F# major instead. The other six positions are the fingerings for the other six modes of the same key.
How to practice Db Mixolydian on guitar
- Loop position 5 of F# major at 60 BPM, starting and ending on Db so your ear hears Db as home rather than F#.
- Hold a Db chord (or record one) and play the shape over it. Land on Cb on the strong beats — that is the sound of Mixolydian.
- Hear it harmonized in 3rds on the Fretboard: press Play and every note sounds with its partner while the neck lights up.
The tool draws C# (the same pitch as Db) Mixolydian from its own root: the orange dots are on C# and the degrees count from it. The notes are its parent key's, F# major; to hear Mixolydian, start and end on Db.
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